A senator-in-waiting from Alberta, a police chief from Ottawa, a former MP and a defeated Tory candidate were among seven new senators named to the Upper Chamber on Friday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Among those announced in a statement by Harper were: Betty Unger, who had won a Senate election in Alberta; Ottawa police Chief Vernon White; and former Newfoundland Tory MP Norman Doyle.

Also named was Jean-Guy Dagenais, a defeated Tory candidate in last year’s federal election and a former peace officer with Quebec’s provincial police force.

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Rounding out the list were JoAnne Buth, president of the Canola Council of Canada, Ghislain Maltais, a former member of the Quebec legislature; and Dr. Asha Seth, a Toronto physician.
Since coming to power in early 2006, Harper has now named 46 Conservative senators, including renaming several failed Tory federal election candidates.

He reappointed Fabian Manning and Larry Smith to the red chamber in May after they resigned and failed to win a seat in the House of Commons in last May’s federal election. Former Conservative cabinet minister Josee Verner was also appointed after voters punted her from the Commons.

Filling the seven vacancies will boost the Conservatives’ majority in the upper chamber to a solid 61 of 105 seats.

The postings come with a base salary of $132,300.

The seven vacancies arose from five retirements and two resignations: the retirement of Alberta Liberal senator Tommy Banks; resignations of Liberal senators Sharon Carstairs from Manitoba and Francis Fox in Quebec; retirements of Conservative senator Vim Kochhar and Progressive Conservative Lowell Murray in Ontario; and retirements of Liberal senators Lucie Pepin and Bill Rompkey in Quebec and Newfoundland, respectively.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday the appointments of seven senators, boosting the Conservative majority in the upper chamber to 61 of 105 seats. The new senators:

JoAnne Buth of Manitoba serves as president of the Canola Council of Canada, an organization representing canola growers, suppliers and researchers. She has also served on a number of provincial and federal boards and advisory committees.

Jean-Guy Dagenais, a former peace officer with Quebec’s provincial police force, was defeated as a Conservati

ve candidate in the Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot riding in last year’s federal
election.

Norman Doyle served as a Conservative MP in Newfoundland and Labrador. He was elected to the riding of St. John’s East for four consecutive terms before stepping down
several years ago.

Ghislain Maltais, a former member of Quebec’s provincial legislature, has been a key organizer for the federal Conservatives, acting as director of the party’s Quebec wing.

Dr. Asha Seth is a Toronto-based physician with more than 30 years of medical experience. She is also the founding president of the NIMDAC Foundation, which supports health-related
charities.

Betty Unger worked as a registered nurse before founding a nursing services company with offices across Alberta. She has been politically active for years and won a provincial Senate election. She will be the first elected woman senator.

Vernon White was sworn in as Ottawa’s police chief in 2007, prior to which he led the Durham regional police force and spent more than two decades with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, including a stint as assistant commissioner.

The Harper government has for years vowed to reform the upper chamber, but change has been slow.

The government’s Senate Reform Act, which is still before the House of Commons, would limit new senators’ terms to nine years and establish guidelines for provinces to voluntarily hold Senate nominee elections.

However, the act wouldn’t be binding on the prime minister or Governor General when making appointments to the Senate.

The Tory reforms set out a process by which a prime minister might appoint senators who are selected through provincial or municipal elections. It’s up to the provinces, however, to run the elections and to pay for them — something many provinces have said they won’t do.
Alberta is the only province to ever hold Senate elections.

Quebec has threatened to fight the senate-reform legislation in court, while other premiers, such as Ontario’s Dalton McGuinty and British Columbia’s Christy Clark, have called for the Senate to be abolished (although Clark has also said she favours elections if abolition isn’t an option).

Alberta Premier Alison Redford has promised to hold a new Senate election in conjunction with the provincial campaign expected in 2012, while New Brunswick’s David Alward recently announced his government will introduce legislation to elect Senate nominees.